Investigation by Europe's anti-fraud office concerns period before Fidesz took over council

Europe’s anti-fraud office OLAF's investigation into the 167 billion HUF missing from the metro 4 project concerns the period before Fidesz took over the local council, Budapest Mayor István Tarlós has said.

According to MTI, OLAF identified 80 issues in its probe and only one falls beyond the 2005-2009 period in which the Socialist-Liberal coalition controlled the city, Mayor Tarlós said.

Tarlós hopes the government will publish the OLAF report which he said was not in his possession. He insisted, however, that he had access to authentic information.

Hungary could be fined almost 77 billion HUF, or 250 million euros, for violations based on the OLAF report, government officials announced earlier this week.

The metro four line was inaugurated in 2014 after eight years of construction. The 7.3 km line with ten stops cost 452.5 billion HUF to build and was supported with 180 billion HUF in European Union grants.